FIRST-AND-TEN: Brady shows no signs of slowing down

As his 40th birthday nears, Tom Brady continues to prove that age is just a number.

Glen Farley The Enterprise @GFarley_ent

His next birthday – it’ll be Aug. 3 for those of you who plan on doing a little shopping for the man who has everything – will be his 40th.

Not that it really matters.

After all, to this point in time Tom Brady shows no signs of slowing down.

Or, to put it another way, Jimmy Garoppolo isn’t getting any younger; nor does he appear to be getting any closer to being the Patriots’ starting quarterback.

All of which could put the Patriots in a bit of a predicament going forward with Garoppolo, whose rookie contract will be up at season’s end.

But that’s another story for another day.

As for Brady, consider that after being sacked by the NFL for the first four games of the 2016 season he returned from his post-Deflategate banishment to throw 28 touchdowns passes with only two interceptions, guide his team to 11 wins in 12 starts and finish second to Matt Ryan in the league’s MVP balloting.

And history will show that he one-upped the Atlanta Falcons quarterback in the Super Bowl, earning MVP honors in directing the Patriots to the greatest comeback in the 51 games that have been played on pro football’s largest stage.

Picking up where he left off, for what it’s worth, Brady didn’t act his age in organized team activities and mini-camp this spring, either.

Yes, it was the same old Tom, the QB looking as young as ever heading into his 18th NFL season (the Patriots’ first public training camp practice is scheduled for July 27 at approximately 9 a.m.).

“Tom is an incredible football player,” veteran wide receiver Andrew Hawkins said following his introduction to life with Brady. “That goes without saying.

“It’s awesome to watch the way he works, the way he competes, the way he even still comes in here every day and works to get better. It’s something a guy like me can learn from as I’m trying to do the same thing – come in here and just, like I said, get better.”

Around these parts, he is simply known as the GOAT – the greatest of all time – and he’s got the numbers to back it.

Numbers like:

208 total wins (regular season and postseason) as a starting quarterback, a league record

12 Pro Bowl berths

61,582 passing yards (fourth in NFL history)

5,244 pass completions (fourth all time)

456 touchdown passes (fourth all time)

a 97.2 rating (third all time)

a league-record 25 postseason wins as a starting quarterback

a league-record 9,094 passing yards in the postseason

a league-record 831 pass completions in the postseason

a league-record 63 TD passes in the postseason

And, most important of all, five Super Bowl rings; perhaps nothing says “GOAT” like five Super Bowl rings (he’s been the game’s MVP a league-record four times).

Now add what Brady has so often lacked, a legitimate game-breaking wide receiver, to the mix, as the Patriots did when they acquired Brandin Cooks from the New Orleans Saints during the offseason.